Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Stormy Weather

Extreme weather is not a category of photography we think much about in the fine art world of New York City, but it has its fans, publishers, and practitioners just like any other genre. Top amongst these is probably Jim Reed, a 56 year old former writer and film-maker who moved from Los Angeles to Wichita, Kansas, 16 years ago in order to be near the biggest hurricanes and tornadoes in the country.

Abrams have recently published a book of his best images titled "Storm Chaser" and for an avowed lover of sky pictures these are quite something! Sublime and luminescent, the photographs have an almost religious quality. They're Ansel Adams on acid! So it's not altogether surprising to find a Christian theme running through Reed's writing as well as an endorsement from evangelist leader Pat Robertson. To balance things out politically though, there's an unabashed warning about global warming from Reed that would make Al Gore proud.

5 comments:

I live in Oklahoma and can tell you these photos really capture the true beauty of these storms. One thing I love about tornado days is the way everything comes into sharp focus and the landscape lights up with a new-found brilliance. Of course, all that is BEFORE the storm hits. The during and after are not always so beautiful.

"If only all blogs were as life-affirming and tender-hearted as that of gallerist James Danziger. Whether his focus falls on the work of an individual artist or a particular theme, The Year in Pictures is compulsive reading."